Newport Vintage Dance Week

Two First Timers' Impressions
on The Newport Vintage Dance Week

These are two unsolicited letters CVD received from first-time attendees of The Newport Vintage Dance Week.

Dear CVD:

If someone sat down with me over a cup of tea, and asked me to describe the perfect, most heavenly holiday I could possibly imagine, there wouldn't be a single detail that wouldn't match Newport 1996, moment by moment. The balls were almost heartbreakingly beautiful. The food, the accommodations, the dance classes, all exceeded my expectations by an exponential factor. The teachers were superb. I feel as though my dancing has come up to a whole new level.

The participants were friendly, welcoming, hilariously funny, pleasant, and delightfully eccentric. I laughed myself into a stomach ache on many separate occasions. (I would not recommend this in an Edwardian corset, however).

What I would say, as a first time visitor, is that the event was MUCH less scary and MUCH less intimidating than I expected it to be. I was a little afraid that I would be judged on my dancing and my costuming. That wasn't at all the case (except maybe by Judge Roy Ben.) It was all much more relaxed and laid-back than I'd been expecting. I walked into the welcoming dance feeling a little nervous and intimidated, but I learned quickly that the Newport veterans are a very warm-hearted, hail-fellow-well-met kind of bunch. It helped to stay in Narragansett which was the location of several impromptu house parties. It was also nice to be living in Jane's Emporium, which gave me a chance to watch several handsome gents change into their tails, so to speak.

I did find that once people knew I was a first-time visitor they more or less took me under their wing and explained things to me. I found it helpful to be involved in some of the events on a volunteer basis, and it also helped to do a little table-hopping during mealtimes, to become acquainted with folks from other states.

One thing I would suggest to people who are thinking of coming for the first time would be to get in touch with the organizers and try to get a list of possible outfits that might be needed (maybe someone at CVD could compile some alternative lists and suggestions for things that might work?) I don't mean vintage clothes or reproductions, but possible modern substitutes. I also would have liked a round-robin at the welcoming dance or some other kind of ice-breaker that would get me introduced to people I don't know. I was fortunate that I knew the CVD crowd, but even so I felt a bit nervous at that event.

All in all, though, it was the most perfect, enjoyable, delightful holiday I have ever spent. There wasn't one single activity or event that I would skip. My only complaint is that it was all over so quickly--the week just flew by. Long may she wave!

Silvana Siddali

Dear CVD:

I was very pleased with how well-treated I was by everyone at Newport, new though I was. Many gentlemen were very generous in asking me to dance, and I didn't have to sit out an inordinate number of dances. I noticed, however, that I got asked to dance less at the Western ball than at any other, and I am formulating a theory about that. The Western ball is when I was dressed in the least interesting and dowdiest style-- I think a girl stands a better chance of getting asked to dance more if she wears a flashy eye- catching outfit. (Certainly at the 1860's ball I got many compliments on my dress from men, when generally I only expect to hear that sort of thing from other women.) Everywhere else I dance men & women both do the asking, and the whole atmosphere & culture are very different from Newport, so I can't do any more experimentation on this theory till next year, but it's an interesting theory...

Here is an interesting theory regarding the Western Ball that Joan mentioned

in reply:

> P.S. -
>
> Another thought to add to your theory about the Western theme ball. Often
> during the week, many old-timers and CVD members are on their best
> behavior, and they especially try to take care of people who are sitting
> out a lot of dances, or who are newcomers, or just people who they haven't
> danced with for a while. By the last ball, however, they throw caution to
> the wind and dance with their best friends. (This is just theory also,
> BTW.) Also, may people leave on Saturday afternoon if they have a 2 day
> drive. I don't know what that does to the gender balance, but it could
> have an effect.

By the way, don't take this talk of my dancing less at the Western Ball as a complaint. Overall I was treated most generously by everyone, and not every ball can be a Cinderella experience!

Speaking of the Western Ball, there were several amusing occasions caused by several pieces the orchestra played having 3 or 4 "endings." I saw this frustrate Andy several times, as he dipped me or someone else for a grand finish, only to have the music continue. The funniest time it happened was when I was dancing with Patri, and the third time the piece "finished" only to continue, he let go of me and started fumbling through that heavy coat trying to unsnap his holster so he could draw his gun on the varmints!

It was Andy's first time at Newport, but he has been a regular at Cincinnati's dance week for 10 years now. He computed the cost for each, and discovered that they are almost exactly alike in price when you take into account room, food, dance tuition, and tolls. (The exact difference could vary, depending on where you eat in Cincinnati-- McDonald's or Chez Louis. But Andy came up with Newport costing $15 more.) I have never been to Cincinnati, but I have many friends who have, and I think I know enough about it to confidently say I prefer Newport. (I would come out of Cincinnati crippled and stressed out!) In reply to this discovery, I replied to him:

> I'll take Newport any day. Fifteen dollars extra got me a combination of
> events much better suited to my tastes, a wider variety of things one can do
> outside of dance week events, e-mail sending ability, fancier locations in
> which to dance, a slightly cooler (temperature wise) location, and two very
> luxurious meals among the more commonplace ones. Plus all the commonplace
> meals were all-you-can-eat, convenient, and yummy.

Thanks so much to everyone at CVD for what I can honestly say is the best vacation I've ever had -- and I've been to Disney World and England twice each!!!

Take care--

Constantia